The Trofa Cup took place this Sunday at the Galerias Araujo track in Portugal, with qualifying starting early and TQ going to João Pedro Gomes (Hong Nor), and the win Carlos Durães ( Hobao/RB ).
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Report by G.Cardoso

Taça da Trofa (Trofa Cup) 2008
The Trofa Cup took place on 23rd of November at Galerias Araujo track, this race was organized by Elitemodel and the organization was fantastic all day long, providing a great race day and great environment on the track.
The track has a mixed layout, with many surfaces making very technical, it has dirt and tarmac, the track was in great conditions all day long, with some bumps on the final only.
The qualifications started early morning, with some cold at the track and a little humidity too, the TQ went to João Pedro Gomes (Hong Nor) followed by the young Fábio Ferreira (Crono) and Carlos Durães (Hobao).
The final (45 min) went down with a pack of 12 drivers and at night conditions with the humidity at the track, Denis Lopes had problems before the start of the final but with some great spirit of competition and with the organization being very understanding, he went to the final too, the Portuguese young rising star Carlos Durães took the lead since the beginning of the final and in the first few laps making a huge gap from the group behind, the group was composed by Gabriel Magalhães (GS), João Pedro Gomes and Nuno Casal Ribeiro (Crono), at the 15 min mark Carlos Durães already had one lap to the 2nd place João Pedro Gomes, followed close by Nuno Casal Ribeiro and Ricardo Monteiro (Xray), with this group fighting for places all the time, at the 20 min mark João Pedro Gomes broke and Nuno Casal Ribeiro had a flameout, with both being very unlucky because they were showing a great pace and making a fight for places with Ricardo Monteiro.
At the 30min mark, Carlos Durães was making a great show, being evil fast with a spectacular driving and showing to everyone that no one had chances, he made the fastest lap on the final with a lap of 25.945s, being the only one all day long that could entry to the 25s mark, he had 3 laps advantage to the 2nd place Ricardo Monteiro and the battle on this 30 min mark was between Nuno Casal Ribeiro and Gabriel Magalhães (which made a huge comeback from the back of the race), but Nuno Casal Ribeiro being fastest and with huge pace.
Near the end of the final, Carlos Durães broke his shock shaft and had to made the last 4 min of the race with only 3 shocks, showing again that he’s a professional driver with a fast pace, losing only one lap to the 2nd place Ricardo Monteiro and keeping calm and driving the car till the end with a huge effort for him to drive in that conditions, in the last minutes Gabriel Magalhães took the 3rd place from Nuno Casal Ribeiro, which was a little unlucky but the credit is to Gabriel Magalhães too, both made a great race, being very fast and making the fight till the end for the last place on the podium, great spirit.
The victory went to Carlos Durães without any doubts, he has clearly the fastest guy on the final, since the beginning making a huge gap to everyone, he’s one of the best drivers in Portugal at this moment, he’s evil fast and still very young, awesome performance again. The podium was composed by Ricardo Monteiro which made a great race and Gabriel Magalhães which made a huge comeback and making a battle with Nuno Casal Ribeiro till the end, which was fast too, great battle. It was a loss that João Pedro Gomes had mechanical problems,
because he was showing great pace and being consistent, being always among the top 3 and being in 2nd when he broke.
The final was at night conditions, but with great conditions provided by the organization, at the final people went to marshalling by their own will, which is great so see such a great spirit of competition.
TOP 5
1st – Carlos Durães ( Hobao/RB )
2nd – Ricardo Monteiro ( Xray/Ninja )
3rd – Gabriel Magalhães ( GS/RB )
4th – Nuno Casal Ribeiro ( Crono/Falcon )
5th – Denis Lopes ( OCM/Sirio )